Jackal (base version)

A legendary pirate game, one of the most famous strategy games. Created at Moscow State University in the 70s, it is filled with the spirit of pirate romance, perfect for family game nights and friendly matches, and excellent for developing logic and systems thinking. If you love hunting for treasure, battling pirates, encountering crocodiles, looking down a cannon barrel, and hauling gold to your ship, then, by a thousand devils, this board game is for you.

How do you play?

Groups of pirates and conquistadors land on a treasure island and try to find as much gold as possible. Each player controls three sailors who can move across the island, drag the found treasures, attack opponents, and engage in various interactions with items on the island.

What does the board look like?

The game board is one of the main "features" of the game. It consists of a large map of the island laid out with randomly arranged tiles. The first time they enter an unknown territory, the sailors "flip" a board tile to explore the area. This means that every new game session, the island will be completely different from the previous one. Great.

Who created this game?

The game was invented at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of MSU in the middle of the last century. From a mathematical perspective, as the game progresses, a connected graph with varying vertex weights is formed on the board, defining optimal paths for protecting one's own resources and, as a rule, providing several directions for attacking an opponent's resources. The influence of randomness on the game is insignificant, as the resulting graph has a closed sum.

When playing "two-on-two," the influence of local minima and maxima is neutralized. To grasp the deep strategy of the game, one needs to play at least 10 games.

Oh, that sounds so complex. Will my eight-year-old child be able to play with their dad?

Of course! Despite the complexity of the mathematical model, the game has very simple rules and colorful design. It is great for playing in small groups or for developing systems thinking in children.

In the box:

- 117 game board tiles
- 4 ship tiles
- 12 sailor tokens
- 37 coins
- Illustrated rulebook

Game duration: 60 to 120 minutes

Number of players: 2 to 4